PPP in Andhra means Prostrate Pray Physicians

Recently there has been much debate about the PPP. If we ask google what is PPP, we will be informed: Purchasing Power Parity, Private Public Partnership and so on, anything but Pakistan People's Party which shows the state-of-the-art AI.

The first PPP means an exchange rate that equates the purchasing power of different currencies, showing how much of a good a currency can buy in different countries. Suppose the cost of two oranges is 100 rupees in India and 2 dollars in USA, the PPP of India is higher than that of the US even though the currency exchange gives about a dollar and a quarter for 100 rupees. Obviously not all oranges are the same and the price varies by location and time.

The second PPP means a project or service operated jointly by a government and a private company. By one reckoning, the Government of India has nearly 2000 PPPs worth 2,495,568.44 crore rupees. The process of picking the companies for partnership involves complex tenders and of course, a great deal crony capitalism.

Given that the hindu pantheon is like various bureaucracies of GoI, what is PPP like in Devaloka? The Asvins mentioned in vedas are the divine physicians whose ken extends over all aspects of biological forms, whereas Dhanvantari is the head of Ayurveda meant for the humans which makes him a PPP.

It is well known that before modern universities emerged, knowledge was transmitted in a gurukula. Thus, Ayurveda was passed on in a guruparampara starting with Dhanvantari who emerged from the milky ocean when devas and asuras churned it to obtain amrit or elixir of life. Bhagavata has all the esoteric details about how Lord Vishnu, transformed as a nymph called Mohini, hoodwinked the asuras to handover the amrit exclusively to devas that made them immortal, hence disease-free.

Who paid for gurukulas? While the knowledge taught in a gurukula is of divine origin, the cost of running a gurukula was borne by the rishis who grew food and necessities from their own cultivation at first and later received largess from local lords or kings. This is called an endowment. Many American universities have land grants, endowments, trusts, etc. to manage the day-to-day university expenses. There are issues on the definition of non-profit universities and their investment in stock markets around the globe, that is for another day.

Over the years, Ayurveda was replaced by Allopathy but the basic model of gurukula continued. That means the elected officials replaced the overlords and kings. The cost of training a medical student in a 4-year course today, for example, is nearly 2 crore rupees in Andhra which is ultimately paid for by the Andhra taxpayers.

When graduates choose to immigrate to other countries or move within Bharat to another state, want to serve only in urban areas and prefer corporate hospitals over government hospitals, the average taxpayer in Andhra who depends on government hospitals is left at a disadvantage. Basically, he is not getting the return on investment Andhra made with taxpayer money.

Having established the unequal distribution of medical care even if access to medical care through aadhar and such ID's is not considered, the issue is how to ensure that the taxpayer is justly served. It is in this context that the previous state government floated the idea of PPP. They wanted to keep 50% or so percent of the student intake for taxpayer subsidies and the rest to be distributed among those who can afford to pay. This seems like a win-win solution.

According to the critics of the existing system, the tenders floated by the state government are too restrictive and assume the capitalists will prefer to invest in medical education and care over other sectors of the economy out of good samaritanism. It is not clear how much of the investment will be borne by the state. If the state subsidizes 50%, even though it seems lower than before, still it is a burden for the taxpayer. How to alleviate the taxpayer burden?

Many of the critics look up to the American model of medical education where students need to take loans either with collateral by their parents or government guarantee, to pay for their education if they can't afford it. Since the infrastructure is built up with land grants and endowment, the cost of medical education is reasonable if not the optimum.

Another aspect of some student loans is, they are offered contingent on the service in rural areas after graduation for a certain number of years. This will mitigate the need for hiring immigrants by offering them visas on J-1, H-1, F-1, etc. for serving exclusively the rural population which is 18% of the total US population. The reality, however, is different. When there are 8 physicians for 10,000 residents in urban areas, there are only 5.1 in rural areas. In India they are 10 and 1 respectively with more than 60% of the population living in rural areas.

One can ask, why can't the for-profit medical insurance and pharmaceutical companies, who are the ultimate financial beneficiaries, pay for the medical education? While it is not entirely clear, there is the concern about unwanted nexxus or collusion spiking the cost of doctor's visits and prescription medicine even more than current astronomical numbers.

Then there is the access and affordability. There are tens of millions Americans who don't have access to medical care. That is, they don't have a physician to go to for routine check ups. Even with access, the so-called co-payment is unaffordable for them. Thus, there is inequity and condemnation of the poor to ill-health and its societal manifestation as violence when it concerns lack of mental care.

So the critics, by choosing the American model of rationing of medical care, will have to answer how they can augment or replace the present system given the deficiencies. If the collective will is to coerce the medical graduates to serve the rural population, then subsidizing medical education makes sense. On the other hand, when serving the rural areas becomes mandatory, or education is with strings attached, many may choose other career paths further skewing the physicians to patient ratio.

Regards

When Lotus Genuflects

Hindu sages stood for unity since the time of Sage Kanad (600 BC) who proposed first that matter is made of atoms (kana). John Dalton in the 19th century refined it and called it atomic theory. The next breakthrough came in 1901 when Dr. Karl Landsteiner proposed the ABO blood group system and showed that all humans have blood in common.

The general consensus among astronomers is that our body cells have the same elements as stardust. That is, the beginningless belief by hindus that water, air, earth, fire and space or pancha bhootas make up all the matter in the universe is validated. In 1953, Drs.Watson and Crick discovered DNA putting all humans on an equal footing.

On the other hand, there are a million ways humans are shown to be unequal. The varna system of vedas, gotras to identify the sage from which one has descended, and the recent caste system are testimonials to human ingenuity in dividing and conquering.

In Valmiki Ramayana written eons ago, Sage Vasishtha taught Lord Rama that there is no cause-effect in the universe to make each of us as unique individuals. For the Sage everything is kakataaleeyam. That is, at the same time as a crow (kaka) lands on a coconut tree (taleeya), if a coconut falls to the ground, there is no definite relationship as cause-effect between them. The Sage said everything emanates from universal consciousness and merges in it. He gave examples of waves in an ocean and embers from fire.

The same concept has been adopted by the spiritualists like Adi Sankara who argued that atma or soul is qualitatively the same for all jivas or life forms. They argued that the apparent diversity we see in the world is because of primordial ignorance or maya. The climax is Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection where he proposed that homo sapiens evolved from apes. So there is no need to feel one is superior because of color, caste, education, etc.

Even though our sages and scientists, alike, have been proving and saying time and again that there are not really billions of us fundamentally different from each other, there are occasions when all are not equal. Nowhere it is more pronounced as in the vedic astrology that is based on the axiom: while stars provide matter for our bodies, celestials control our destiny. A prince born to a Queen at the same time and place as a child born to her servant can have different destinies because of the law of karma which is based on cause-effect that Sage Vasishtha rejected.

The modern consensus from budhists to scientists is that cause-effect is the reason for our differences. The ruling class funds and promotes them because it suits their agenda to divide and rule for self-aggrandizement and self-enrichment. The colonies were carved out of religious and linguistic identities giving birth to nation-states. The League of Nations and United Nations were conceived in an effort to promote equal but separate concepts. In other words, gentrification and segregation are legitimate tools at the disposal of nation-states to implement their agenda.

The Internet is the much awaited breakthrough but it suffered from the digital divide. The haves decide the rationing of free speech among individuals. Oligarchs create their own social platforms and promote their divisive agenda. The have-nots or sheep in parlance, meekly submit to their will.

AI is no different. Scientists have coined a phrase called "inductive bias" that basically means AI is as good as its creators. That is, the AI created in North America can use race to make decisions, whereas the AI developed in Bharat may use dharma in its reasoning. Since all AI is as good as the training data, there is no hope for humans expecting equal treatment from machines. The machines will continue to ration medical care to deserving people or make the rich richer.

All is not bleak. The practitioners of yoga (which means union in Sanskrit) have by far the fairest system. If one wants to live long, the yogis give pranayamas; to be free from common diseases, there are yoga asanas; for spiritual enlightenment, there is ashtanga yoga. And so on. Ideally one receives enlightenment with meditation and by minimizing karma or action. The law of karma still applies, but its adverse effects are mitigated with proper sankalpa or desire and reigning in the vasanas or latent tendencies.

As hindus, we should unite against race-based discrimination, while renouncing the caste system or better replacing it with varnas. The problem comes when hindus see the caucasians as their devatas or saviors. The hindus and minorities in Bharat are ecstatic when a hindu emmigrates. The professionals go to the west and the laborers chase the petrodollar. Every year hundreds of high networth hindus leave Bharat with lock, stock and barrel. They all blame the ruling class which could be a legitimate claim.

Ask the google search engine "unkept promises of bjp" and instantaneously comes a long list starting with high unemployment, black money, low farmers' income, inflation, fuel prices, infrastructure, etc. One could say the data has been fed by the opposition to discredit the ruling party . It is highly unlikely given that the Bharat's leader virtually conferred the padma award to the google's captain and prostrated before the captain's mother. The leader's genuflection is legendary in the west and USA. On the other hand, the ruling party also has the freedom to provide data to the same search engine that highlights their achievements.

One should give credit to the rulers of Bharat where it is due. Most people are supportive of Bharat military's defence and offense capabilities even though it means abandonment of non-alignment and alienation from the west. The bharatiya oligarchs are apparently inspired by the Russians even as capitalism of America is considered an epithet. No one is sure where Bharat stands on socialism and fascism. The prevalence of natives up in arms against the invading "aryans" testifies to certain resentment.

Bharat's wealth distribution in 2025 shows extreme inequality, with the top 10% holding nearly two-thirds of the nation's wealth and income, while the bottom half receives only around 15% of income, according to the World Inequality Report 2026.

Perhaps Bharat's highest achievement is the strength and resilience of the middle-class that constitutes nearly one third of the population or about 440 million people. Even if the trading nations penalize them with high taxes, there are no signs that their support for the ruling class will budge. It is not enough to claim unity in diversity, but to get rid of perceived inequalities based on the western and American models of governance.

Regards

Seafaring not Seafearing that brought us closer as humanity

Indus Valley Civilization (2600-1900 BCE) was known for seafaring using primitive boats and oars. In this regard, Rig Veda has several verses describing ocean-crossing.

In 1.116 The Deeds of the Asvins Verse 3 says:

"Tugra had left Bhujyu in the cloud of water as a dead man leaves behind his wealth.You brought him back, Asvins, in ships that were alive, that swam through the realm of air far from the water."

The Ashvins are twin gods in Hindu mythology, often referred to as the horsemen. They are associated with medicine, health, healing, and the sciences.

Later hindu Kings developed trade relations by navigating the oceans on ships with Persia, Java, Sumatra, etc. where they exchanged spices with local produce. Therefore, it is established that our forefathers knew about ship design and how to take advantage of trade-winds for navigation.

However, the invention of submarines apparently didn't take place in Bharat. The credit goes to europeans. Why is it important? The ships and sail boats traveling on the surface of oceans are subjected to storms and unfavorable conditions. The navigation could fail, making the ships end up in unexpected places. The oars-men could succumb to sickness. And so on. The submarines, on the other hand, have none of these and can travel faster than ships, especially the nuclear ones. By using a hydrofoil design, similar to planes, the friction is greatly removed. They can also take advantage of warm currents inside oceans, such as the gulf stream, which are highlighted in the animation movie "Finding Nemo" (2003).

When it comes to space travel, the hottest ticket is, not a rocket to Mars, what is called a "warp drive" that can travel faster than light, overcoming the limitation set by physicists for the massive objects like spaceships. The way they do it is by creating higher pressure in the backend several times greater than the pressure in the front much like hydrofoil. In other words, the warp drive is like submarines if only in space. The idea of warp drives started with science-fiction. Now it is proved to be possible by a number of breakthroughs in theoretical and experimental physics. The physicists are now betting that one can travel in a warp bubble back and forth to Alpha Centauri, our nearest star system 4.2 light years away, in a year's time.

But there is a catch. The physicists tell us that the warp bubble can only be sustained with negative energy and exotic matter that are yet to be invented. To understand negative energy, one can start with negative pressure which is seen in a building when an enclosed area has lower pressure than surroundings. In the case of a submarine, when in deep-dive, the pressure of water mass above the submarine will be many times greater than the atmospheric pressure inside. So the material of construction of the submarine should be able to withstand it.

As for the exotic mass, it often means "dark matter" that is thought to be pushing the galaxies apart at great speeds away from earth. Since it can't be seen with telescopes or measured with sensors, there is a great deal of speculation. It is possible to liken it to our negative thoughts and feelings about ourselves, near and dear ones, governments and the planet earth in general.

Thus, on this new year's day, let us resolve to give up negative thinking and pray for world peace. Just as navigating oceans, later skies in planes, brought us closer as humanity, despite Manu's prohibitions on crossing the seven seas, with space travel one day, we hope, we will be able to see the creator who holds the answer to all of our doubts.

Regards

Swecha Bharat

For many hindus Panchatantra is no stranger. But how many know many of the surviving historical manuscripts of Panchatantra are found in Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, Iran; Oxford library, Indian Office Library, London (UK); Tibet and Japan, etc.? Its author Vishnu Sarma (200 BCE-300 CE) was blessed with most translations of any Bharatiya vignaan among the Indo-European and Indo-Persian language families.

As many know, "pancha" in Sanskrit means five and "tantra" is an "upaya" or a stratagem. The five being Mitra-bheda (The Loss of Friends), Mitra-lābha (The Acquisition of Friends), Kākolūkīyam (The Crows and the Owls), Labdhapraṇāśam (The Loss of Gains), Aparīkṣitakārakaṃ (The Rash Deeds).

Preceding Panchatantra was Chanakya's (350 BCE) 5 upayas: sama (persuasion), dana (offering), danda (punishment), bheda (isolation) in the art of governance that were largely superseded by the later Panchatantra because of the harshness involved in them. But you still find them among the fraternity of nations. For instance Bharat is in the last two legs vis-a-vis neighbors.

Also, there is a difference between Vishnu Sarma's mitra-bheda that means doing the opposite of Dale Carnegie's advice in his book "How to Win Friends And Influence People", and Chanakya's bheda which means isolation such as the "sanctions regime".

After independence, Bharat used Panchsheel: respect for territorial integrity and sovereignty, non-aggression, non-interference, equality and mutual benefit, and peaceful co-existence that were called "non-alignment", later "non-aligned movement" by including more nations. In reality, Bharat favored the former USSR over the USA, the two nations engaged in cold-war.

The "Global South", "BRICS", etc. are later refinements to primarily counter the US Dollar's supremacy. So when the talk of Tariffs was going on, Bharat fell back to Mitra-Labha and the EAM went around scouting for new markets and trading partners. The foreign jaunts of nouveau riche on Bharat's Air Force 1 are reminiscent of American tycoon Carnegie's diplomacy on his yacht to engage primarily China and Bharat. While China acceded to open up trade relations and prospered, Bharat lagged behind.

If there is a stark difference between these two neighbors, it is the lingua franca induced lack of orderliness. Bharat, while proud of its English, had subscribed to sloganeering under the guise of 5-year plans such as "Garibi Hathao" (remove poverty), "Beti Bachao" (save the girl child), etc. neglecting infrastructure and overall hygiene. While the former made leaps and bounds in the recent past despite fiascos like Indigo grounding its planes, the latter never sunk deep into the citizens as they were offered more slogans like "Swacha Bharat", "Vikshit Bharat", "Atma Nirbhar Bharat", etc. instead of investment in practical tools to raise the standards of living.

For instance, whenever the world leaders visited the capital, the likes of Madanpur Khadar and Kathputli Colony, that are collectively called slums, were kept out of sight with make-shift pardahs along the surface routes. At the same time humanitarians like Mother Teresa and Mira Nair were heckled for not providing bathroom tissue to the slum dwellers instead of seeking fame and prizes.

So how to fix? While trickle-down economics by handing over public institutions to the oligarchs might work in the short-term, like Russia the GoI will bog down in unending border skirmishes throwing more "Agni Veers" in harm's way, for which the largely unemployed youth, who are enamored with government jobs that are synonymous with corruption, are to be blamed . The self-employed shouldn't be subsisting on "Pakora Stalls" without knowing nutritional value and basic hygiene, both of which can be fixed, like in China or Singapore, with incentives and repercussions rather than saddling with a GST. In other words, use Chanakya's precepts for internal affairs rather than making speeches in the General Assembly or informal press conferences by the select coterie to show "Swecha Bharat" or an utopian land of freebies from the leaders.

Regards

Future generations will be "autistic savants" with AI

Leaving the question whether math is innate or acquired, by nature or by nurture, there is ample evidence that infants and primitive tribes can count either mentally or using fingers. As per the "Dasama Nyaya" a person counting a group leaves himself out which means counting manually is prone to errors. Between 1911-18 Swami Bharati Krishna Tritha published what is called now "Vedic Mathematics" taught in school all over:

"After a deep study of the Vedas, he extracted 16 Sutras and 13 sub-sutras that form the backbone of Vedic mathematics. These formulas aren't limited to just addition or multiplication they extend to algebra, geometry, trigonometry, calculus, and more."

Besides Ramanujam (1887-1920), who was not a self-admitted vedic scholar, the aforementioned swami was the most celebrated hindu mathematician even though their mathematical intuition is worlds apart. For instance, Ramanujam thought about various kinds of infinity viz. countable, uncountable, ordinal, cardinal, etc. along with intuition of his co-evals in the west that there are more real numbers packed in between zero and one than there are numbers in the entire range of naturals.

My favorite puzzle is when you have a guest appearing at a hotel with infinite rooms that are all occupied, how would you check-him in? One solution is to ask the existing guests to shift by one room and the first vacant room is to be assigned to the new guest.

While it could be that vedic mathematicians didn't ponder over infinity besides the saanti mantra, called metaphysical infinity, which in essence means whether you add or subtract infinity from or to infinity the result is infinity, they deserve credit for zero, a mysterious number connecting the negative and positive numbers on the number axis. Its use in modern binary computers is well known.

For ancient hindus, math is not just an instrument to study reality, like posited by the scientists studying phenomenal laws, but a way to connect with the divine. Nowhere it is more apparent than in jyotish. Starting with sages Parasara and Jaimini (5000 BCE), Arya Bhata (476–550 CE) who was a mathematician-astronomer and author of Āryabhaṭīya and the Arya-siddhanta, Varahamihira (505- 587 CE) who gave us a compendium of Greek, Egyptian, Roman, and Indian astronomy called Pancha-siddhantika (“Five Treatises”), are some of the great jyotishi Bharat ever produced.

In the realm of counting or arithmetic, Bhaskaracharya who gave us Leelavati Ganita in 12th century AD, for sizing up weight, volume, currency, etc. that are commonly called "weights and measures" in modern curricula, Dharma Raja who was an expert in "yaksha hridaya ganita" whereby one could tell the number of leaves on a fully grown tree without counting or the number of horses on a battle-field by a mere glance, besides Ramanujam who said the sum of infinite series of nature numbers adds up to a negative fraction which is more like the destiny of human race, are well known.

With the advent of calculators and computers, though counting fast or efficiently using brain power have taken a back-seat, the challenges posed by infinity are ever present. For example, what is the largest number to represent a nation's GDP or trade deficit that are currently in the range of trillions? What is the largest prime number that can be used to encrypt this message? Is space infinite? And so on.

In Leelopakhyana of Ramayana, Sage Vasishta speculates that within each atom there is an entire universe composed of atoms that have their own universe endlessly. It could be that our universe is the last in that chain. As scientists try to smash atoms in particle accelerators, we miss the big picture the Sage had painted. For example, our puranas say Lord Vishnu "descended" to earth from Vaikuntha. None is any wiser.

Finally there are autistic savants like in the movie Rain Man who could be specialists in counting or arithmetic though cognitively limited when compared to normal people, as there are people who can remember dates while not knowing their street address. Modern AI is made possible by such autistic theory where the "neural networks" specialize in pattern recognition to the exclusion of commonsense. Unchecked, future generations will turn out to be autistic savants much like Sakuntala Devi and Bharatiya chess wizards like Anand had demonstrated.

Regards

Moral Depravity is the cause of Desecration of Statue

Almost two centuries ago, Swami Dayananda Saraswati, founder of Arya Samaj, spoke against idol worship and temples. Many advaitis in south knew but didn't join Arya Samaj that was credited for the accession of Hyderabad Nijam after the Rajakar's movement in 1948. Why?

Adi Sankara in 8th century AD defeated Buddhists, Jains, etc. who introduced idol worship into Bharat and sent them packing to the North. Prior to Buddhism and Jainism, it is believed that hindus predominantly conducted yagnas or fire worship much like Zoroastrians in particular and Persians in general. The vedic gods like Indra, Varuna, et al. were not worshiped using idols but were offered havis from yagnas. Many religious places of worship left behind by the Budhists and Jains became the temples of worship for hindus.

Invaders came in waves after 10th century AD and were involved in the defacement of hindu idols and places of worship. Whether they were assisted by the local kings or temple desecration happened even before because of in-fighting among the hindu kings as claimed by Prof Richard Eaton of University of Arizona , is debatable but the restoration of Ramajanmabhoomi of Ayodhya to hindus (2019) was done by the whim of judges probably awoken by the deity in their dreams just as Lord Rama was known to have repaid Bhakta Ramdas' unpaid dues during the reign of Tana Shah (17th century AD).

Over the centuries as the hindu diaspora spread across the globe, they built temples for idol worship and there were several instances of desecration that are in parlance called vandalism by miscreants but never by state actors until now. Thailand's military has been accused of destroying a tall Lord Vishnu's statue near the border with Cambodia.

It is interesting to note that both countries compete for tourism by heavily depending on tourists from Malaysia, China, Russia and South Korea along with Bharat. So far this year at least 25 million tourists came from these countries and nearly 43 billion US Dollars were earned by tourism. In 2024, 2.13 million Bharatiyas visited Thailand and in Thai currency spent nearly 84 billion or about 3 billion US Dollars.

As one can see Bharatiyas contribute about 15% to Thailand's tourism which is not a big deal as many are drawn to sex-tourism Bangkok is famous for regardless of events related to the latest border skirmish. The politics of Thailand are driven more by what happens in Bangkok than to an idol at the border.

However, from Cambodia's, which is called Kambhoji by Akhand Bharat vadis, perspective things are totally the opposite. About 75000 Bharatiyas visited Angkor heritage and Hindu Budhist temples in 2024. And more are expected this year and in the coming years.

Given these facts, it is the moral depravity of Bharatiyas who would go to Bangkok for anything but idol worship that has caused the Lord Vishnu's statue to drop from a high pedestal. One can give more facts about Bharat's transition from Buddhism to Hinduism and the tragic circumstances Bharatiyas experienced under foreign rule post Sankara era. But it won't measure up against the decrepit state of affairs vis-a-vis Thailand's Bangkok.

Regards

Purushottama v. Uttama Purusha

Purushottama v. Uttama Purusha

A casual glance at the scripture reveals that in Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna uses the latter and in Vishnu Sahasra Namas the former is used. In simple words: "Purushottama signifies an exalted supreme being, embodying virtues and divine essence, often associated with Lord Vishnu." For the latter, an entire Chapter 15 called "Purushottam Yoga" was devoted in Gita.

The question: is there a difference? Gita answers affirmatively in terms of kshara purusha and akshara purusha where the latter means that which is imperishable, indestructible, fixed, immutable. What about Kshara Purusha?

This is where the masculinity concept is brought in. Starting with Greek gods like Hercules, Atlas, et al. the west had venerated masculinity in the fine arts and warfare. In the American context a phrase called "Hegemonic Masculinity" was constructed as: "men that are aiming to join military service to position themselves on the top of the hegemonic construct of masculinity". In the film, Pan’s Labyrinth, the idea of "fascist masculine" was used. As for the rest psychoanalytic theory, cognitive-development theory and learning theory definitions of masculinity apply which are:

Sex is biologically defined and gender is a social construct as male or female. Masculinity is a societal construct that is commonly associated with social problems like racism, depression, losing family and cultural value because in pursuit of true masculinity just to prove critics wrong, some men indulge in social vices like murder, theft and rape.

So anyway we cut it, masculinity is pejorative. In other words, as hindus we don't want to raise our children to live up to the masculine role models. That means, flexing muscles, subjugating minorities, exploiting females for progeny, etc. are not the qualities sought by us.

In the 20th century after hindus were finally liberated from the clutches of foreigners, a new found freedom led to the current "Kshara Purusha Crisis" for men that manifest as youth sporting beards (epitomized in the pan-India film Pushpa), women getting molested in public, sex tourism, pan-world films where heroes inspired by Super Man and James Bond project virility, machismo and chauvinism.

These kshara purushas have high fecundity which made sense when the economy was mostly agrarian and the infant mortality was high as more hands were necessary to tend the agricultural land even though it meant more mouths to be fed.

The kshara pusushas are also afraid that other religious groups will over-take them in terms of head-count and gain advantage in elections and convert Bharat to a theocratic state. While this seems like a legitimate grievance, the diaspora ascending to political heights in USA, UK, etc. is considered the same as "cognitively superior" merit-based immigration that opened the floodgates to immigrants in the west in general and USA in particular since 1965.

Regardless, the rest of the world sees Kshara Purushas using racist lens dividing them into androgynous and androgamus. The former is what we call "arathnaareeswara", the latter being my coinage that means subordination to the American hegemony.

In the west bollywood icons who are not Kshara Purushas were awarded honorary doctorates perhaps to create a competitive spirit among the religious minorities in Bharat that otherwise look up to "toxic masculinity" abroad. Many Kshara Purushas in the USA who spread hinduism through speeches, music, pravachanas, etc. project the Bharatiya soft power.

As Kshara Purushas come in more contact with other nationalities, preferring other women, we see a general feeling among their women as abandonment, rejection, and shame. So the Bharatiya women do the same and prefer macho men with shiny muscles or more wealth in other cultures. And this competition for appropriate mate goes on.

Lord Krishna is an Uttama Purusha because despite being in the midst of gopikas during raasa lilas, he was not swayed by any of them. The "Maryada Purusha" Lord Rama is known to all. At the same time, the follies of King Harischandra and King Dushyanta indicate the flip side of our culture.

The Adi Sankara's Bhaja Govindam advises the youth as:

nārī stanabhara nābhīdeśaṃ dṛṣṭvā mā gā mohāveśam | etanmāṃsa vasādi vikāraṃ manasi vicintayā vāraṃ vāram

Do not get drowned in delusion, infatuated with passion and lusty desires, by seeing a woman’s raised breasts and navel. These are nothing but a modification of flesh and fat, and the like. Do not fail to remember this again and again in your mind.

mā kuru dhanajana yauvana garvaṃ harati nimeṣāt-kālaḥ sarvam | māyāmayamidam-akhilaṃ hitvā brahmapadaṃ tvaṃ praviśa viditvā

Do not take pride in wealth, friends and youth. Each one of these is destroyed within an instant by Time. Free yourself from the illusion of the world of māyā and attain the realm of brahman, timeless truth.

Regards

Wendy Doniger Rig Veda Boy and Chariot

Table Of Contents

CREATION
CREATION - II
Death
Death - 2
Death - 3
Death - 4
Death - 5
Agastya - Lopamudra

సృష్టి
సృష్టి -- II
మృత్యువు
మృత్యువు -2
మృత్యువు -3
మృత్యువు -4
మృత్యువు -5
అగస్త్య - లోపాముద్ర

10.135   The Boy and the Chariot

10.135   బాలుడు మరియు రథము

ఈ ఋక్కు యమధర్మ రాజుకి సంబంధించినదని పూర్వీకులు చెప్పినా, యముడు మొదటి మరియు చివరి పాదాల్లో మాత్రమే మరణ రహస్య విచారణలో ప్రస్తావింపబడతాడు. దీని తాత్పర్యమేమానగా: ఒక బాలుడు తండ్రి మరణించగా, వాని ఊహల్లో తన తండ్రి వెనుక ఏడుస్తూ, వెనక్కి రమ్మని బ్రతిమాలుకుంటూ , యమలోకం చేరుకుంటాడు. ఇక్కడ బాలుడు మరణించేడనిగాని లేదా మరణించాలని భావిస్తాడనిగాని తెలుపబడలేదు. తండ్రి సమాధానంగా, బాలుడు తన ఊహలో తండ్రిని అనుసరించాలని నిర్మించిన రథము, వానికి తెలియకుండానే, తండ్రి వెనుక వస్తున్నాదని తెల్పెను. ఆ రథము అంత్యక్రియ లేదా దహన సంస్కారములో మృతుని శరీరాన్ని యముని మరియు పితరులకు తీసుకువెళ్ళే ప్రక్రియను సూచిస్తుంది¹. అలాగే బాలుడు మరణించిన తండ్రిని చూడాలనే వాంఛను సూచిస్తుంది². చివరి పాదంలో స్వర్గలోక ప్రస్తావన బాలుని ఊరడిస్తుంది³.

Though this hymn is traditionally dedicated to Yama, Yama appears only in the first and last verses (which are closely related), framing an allegory of the secret of death. The plot, though obscure, seems to be something like this: The father of a young boy has died, and the boy mentally follows the journey of his father to the realm of Yama, grieving and trying to get him to return; the hymn does not necessarily imply that the boy himself dies or even wants to die. The voice of the father answers the boy, saying that the chariot that the boy has built in his imagination to follow his father is already, unknown to the boy, bringing him after the father. This chariot is the funeral sacrifice or the oblation or the funeral fire that ‘carries’ the corpse to Yama and the fathers.¹ It is, at the same time, a manifestation of the boy’s own wish to see his father.² The final verse gives a vision of paradise, perhaps to reassure the boy.³

1 [The son:] ‘Beneath the tree with beautiful leaves where Yama drinks with the gods, there our father, the head of the family, turns with longing to the ancient ones.⁴

1. బాలుడు: యముడు దేవతలతో కలిసి పచ్చటి ఆకులతో కూడిన వృక్ష సముదాయంలో పానం చేస్తుండగా, నా తండ్రి, గృహ యజమాని, పితరులను చూడాలనే కాంక్షతో వెళుతున్నాడు⁴.

2 ‘ Reluctantly I looked upon him as he turned with longing to the ancient ones, as he moved on that evil way.⁵ I longed to have him back again.’

2. అతడు తన పితరుల దిశగా భయంకరమైన మార్గంలో వెళ్తూ వెనక్కి చూడగా నేను నిరుత్సాహంగా చూసేను⁵. అతడు వెనక్కి రావాలని మిక్కిలి ఆశతో ఉన్నాను.

3 [Voice of the father :] ‘In your mind, my son, you made a new chariot without wheels, which had only one shaft but can travel in all directions. And unseeing,⁶ you climbed into it.

3. తండ్రి : నీ మనస్సులో అన్ని దిశలా పయనించ గలిగే చక్రాలు లేని, ఒంటి దండమున్న రథాన్ని తయారు చేసుకున్నావు. తెలియకుండా⁶ దాన్ని ఎక్కేవు.

4 ‘My son, when you made the chariot roll forth from the priests,⁷ there rolled after it a chant that was placed from there upon a ship.’

4. పుత్రుడా, నీవు రథంలో పురోహితులను వీడి నప్పుడు⁷, దాని వెనుక మంత్రాల మహిమతో ఒక విమానం అధిరోహించేవు.

5 Who gave birth to the boy? Who made the chariot roll out? Who could tell us today how the gift for the journey⁸ was made?

5. ఆ బాలుని ఎవరు కన్నారు? ఎవరు రథాన్ని కదిలించేరు? ఎవరు ఈ పయనానికి⁸ కారణభూతాన్ని చెప్పగలరు?

6 How was the gift for the journey made? The beginning arose from it: first they made the bottom, and then they made the way out.⁹

6. ఈ పయన సాధనం ఎలా చేయబడింది? మొదలు దాని నుండే వెలువడింది: మొదట దాని ఆధార పీట చేయబడింది. తరువాత దాని నుండి నిష్క్రమించే మార్గము చేయబడింది⁹.

7 This is the dwelling-place of Yama, that is called the home of the gods. This is his reed- pipe that is blown, and he is the one adorned with songs.

7. ఇది యముని సదనము. దీన్నే దేవతల గృహంగా భావిస్తారు. ఇది వాని వేణువు. అనేక రాగాలతో అతడు భాసిల్లుతాడు.

NOTES

వివరణ

1. Cf. 1.164 for the mystic symbolism of the chariot that is the sacrifice, with no wheels and one shaft (10.135.3); and cf. 10.16 for the funeral fire.

1. 1.164 లో యజ్ఞమనబడే చక్రాలు లేని ఏక దండము గల రథము ప్రస్తావించబడింది. 10.16 లో దహన సంస్కారము తెలుపబడినది.

2. In later Sanskrit, the ‘chariot of the mind’ (manoratha) is a word for ‘wish’. Cf. 10.85.12 for a chariot made of thought.

2. తరువాత వచ్చిన సంస్కృత పరిభాషలో "మనోరథము" అనగా తీవ్రమైన కోరిక. 10.85.12 లో మనస్సుతో చేయబడిన రథమని సూచింపబడినది.

3. This hymn may be the kernel of the famous myth of Naciketas, in which a boy travels to the realm of death and converses with Death and with his father. But the present hymn cannot be interpreted as if it were already an expression of that complex myth.

3. ఈ ఋక్కు తండ్రి శాపగ్రస్తుడై యమలోకాన్ని చేరి యమధర్మరాజుతో మాట్లాడిన నాచికేతుని కథకు భూమిక. కానీ ఈ ఋక్కులో మిక్కిలి క్లిష్టమైన నాచికేతుని ప్రశ్నలు, వాటికి బదులుగా యమధర్మ రాజు యొక్క వివరణ పొందు పరచబడలేదు.

4. The dead ancestors in the realm of Yama. Cf. 10.14.

4. యమలోకములోని పితృదేవతలు సూచింపబడిరి. (10.14)

5. The path of death; probably not Hell, but cf. 10.71.9 and 10.85.30.

5. యముని మార్గము అనగా నరకానికి మార్గం కాకపోవచ్చు. (10.71.9, 10.85.30)

6. Literally, not seeing the chariot that you are mounting; symbolically, not understanding the power of the sacrifice.

6. గ్రాంథికంగా అధిరోహించే రథాన్ని గాంచలేకపోవుట. అనగా యజ్ఞము యొక్క మహిమ తెలియకుండుట.

7. The priests compose the funerary hymns which accompany the corpse and which are thus ‘carried’ by the chariot and by a ship (both metaphors for the sacrifice and the oblation) that the priests send away from them.

7. పురోహితులు వల్లించిన అంత్యక్రియల మంత్రాలు మృత దేహాన్ని అనుసరిస్తాయని సూచింపబడినది. అనగా రథము, మరియు విమానము (రెండూ యజ్ఞము మరియు ఆహుతికి చిహ్నాలు) పురోహితులచే ఆవాహన చేయబడినవని సూచితము.

8. Probably equipment with which the deceased was supplied for the journey to Yama’s abode (cf. 10.16.8), here identified with the chant placed on the sacrificial chariot. The word here translated ‘gift for the journey’ (anudeyï) occurs only once more in the Rig Veda, to describe the woman who accompanies the bride on her journey to the groom’s house (10.85.6).

8. బహుశా యమలోకానికి పయనించే మృతుని ప్రయాణానికి కావలసిన సాధనములు మంత్రాలు మరియు యజ్ఞ రథములుగా సూచింపబడినవి. ఇచ్చట ప్రయోగింపబడిన "అనుదెయీ" పదము, అనగా ప్రయాణ సాధనము, ఋగ్వేదములో మరియొక చోట వధువుతోపాటు అత్తమామల గృహానికి వెళ్ళే పడతిని సూచింపబడినది. (10.85.6)

9. This verse is simultaneously a literal description of the chariot and a figurative reference to the chant, with its opening and closing phrases.

9. ఈ పాదము మొదటి, చివరి పదములలో రథము యొక్క చిత్రీకరణము మరియు మంత్రముల యొక్క మహిమ సూచింపబడినవి.

Wendy Doniger Rig Veda Agastya-Lopamudra

Table Of Contents

CREATION
CREATION - II
Death
Death - 2
Death - 3
Death - 4
Death - 5

సృష్టి
సృష్టి -- II
మృత్యువు
మృత్యువు -2
మృత్యువు -3
మృత్యువు -4
మృత్యువు -5

1.179   Agastya and Lopamudra

1.179   అగస్త్యుడు మరియు లోపాముద్ర

In this conversation, Lopamudra seeks to turn her husband Agastya, who has undertaken a vow of chastity, away from his asceticism so that he will beget a child upon her. Although he argues that there are two ways to achieve happiness (or immortality), she overpowers him (v. 4), and afterwards he wishes to atone for his lapse by drinking Soma (ingesting the divine form of the protean fluid that, in its human form, has just been ‘sucked’ from him). Finally the poet affirms that the two of them, by uniting after each had perfected a power (she eroticism, he asceticism), achieved both forms of immortality, spiritual and corporeal (through children).

ఈ ఋక్కులో అగస్త్య ముని, ఆతని భార్య లోపాముద్ర మధ్య జరిగిన సంభాషణ వర్ణింపబడినది. అగస్త్యుడు బ్రహ్మచర్య నిష్ఠతో తపము నాచరించుచుండెను. కానీ లోపాముద్ర సంతతిని కాంక్షించింది. అగస్త్యుడు రెండువిధములుగా ఆనందము లేదా అమరత్వము పొందవచ్చునని వాదించినా, లోపాముద్ర మాటే నెగ్గుతుంది. అటు పిమ్మట అగస్త్యుడు తన పాపమునకు పరిహారముగా సోమ రసమును త్రాగెను (ఏలననగా తనలోని దైవ గుణము కలిగించే సోమము క్షీణించెను). లోపాముద్ర తనకున్న కామ వాంఛలతో, అగస్త్యుడు తపో నిష్ఠతో, ఆధ్యాత్మిక చింతన మరియు సంతానముతో, అమరులైరి.

1 [ Lopamudra:] ‘For many autumns past I have toiled,¹ night and day, and each dawn has brought old age closer, age that distorts the glory of bodies. Virile men² should go to their wives.

1. లోపాముద్ర: నేను రేయింబగళ్ళూ శ్రమించగా¹, వయస్సు మీరి, దేహ పౌష్టవము తగ్గినది. పౌరుషమున్న పురుషులు ² తమ భార్యల వద్దకు వెళ్ళవలెను.

2 ‘For even the men of the past, who acted according to the Law and talked about the Law with the gods, broke off when they did not find the end.³ Women should unite with virile men.’²

2. ఎందుకనగా, గతంలోని పురుషులు, ధర్మాన్ని అనుసరించి, దేవతలతో నియతిని చర్చించినప్పటికీ, తపో నిష్టను విడమరచిన వారైరి³. స్త్రీలు పౌరుషమున్న మగవాళ్ళతో మాత్రమే కలయవలెను².

3 [Agastya:] ‘Not in vain is all this toil,¹ which the gods encourage. We two must always strive against each other, and by this we will win the race that is won by a hundred means,⁴ when we merge together as a couple.’

3.అగస్త్యుడు: దైవ కృపవలన మన శ్రమ వృధా కాదు¹. మనము కలిసి కర్మల నాచరించి, దంపతులుగా ఏకమైతే అనేక మంది పూర్వీకులు⁴ వెళ్ళిన మార్గములో నడిచి విజేతల మవుతాము.

4 [Lopamudra :] ‘Desire has come upon me for the bull who roars and is held back,⁵ desire engulfing me from this side, that side, all sides.’[The poet:] Lopamudra draws out the virile bull:² the foolish woman sucks dry the panting⁶ wise man.

4. లోపాముద్ర: ఒక నియంత్రించబడిన బలమైన ఎద్దు వలె⁵, నా వాంఛ అన్ని వైపులా బలీయమవుతోంది. [ద్రష్ట: లోపాముద్ర ఒక పోటెత్తిన ఎద్దును ఉదహరించి², భర్తను ఆపసోపాలుపెట్టి నిర్వీర్యుడిని చేస్తోంది]

5 [Agastya:] ‘By this Soma which I have drunk, in my innermost heart I say: Let him forgive us if we have sinned, for a mortal is full of many desires.’

5. అగస్త్యుడు: నేను త్రాగిన సోమ రసము సాక్షిగా, మనము తప్పుచేస్తే దేవుడు శిక్షించు గాక. మానవ మాత్రులకు అనేక కోరికలు ఉంటాయి.

6 Agastya, digging with spades,⁷ wishing for children, progeny, and strength, nourished both ways, for he was a powerful sage. He found fulfillment of his real hopes among the gods.

6. మహా తపస్వి అయిన అగస్త్యుడు ఒక గునపము వలె⁷, సంతానమాసించి, శక్తిని కోరి శ్రమించెను. అతడు తన కోరికలను, ఆశలను దేవతల సహాయముతో తీర్చుకొనెను.

NOTES

వివరణ

1. This word often refers to the exertion of religious activity. When she uses it, she may refer to her work as his wife or to her own asceticism (the commentator suggests that both of them practise asceticism), and when he uses it (v. 3) he refers to his asceticism.

1. ఇక్కడ ఆధ్యాత్మిక పరిశ్రమ సూచింపబడినది. ఆమె పతి సేవా దురంధర లేదా ఆధ్యాత్మిక పరిపక్వత గలది (ఎందుకనగా దంపతులిరువురూ ఆధ్యాత్మిక చింతనగలవారు కనుక) అని సూచింపబడినది. అతడు ఈ పద ప్రయోగము (3 వ పాదంలో) చేసినప్పుడు తన వైరాగ్యం గూర్చి తెలిపెను.

2. This word (vrsan) recurs throughout this hymn (and elsewhere in the Rig Veda: cf. 1.32, 10.10.10). Its basic meaning is one who sheds rain or seed; it comes to mean a potent male animal, particularly a bull or a stallion.

2. వృషన్ అనే పదము ఈ ఋక్కులో, మరియు తక్కిన వాటిలిలో (1.32, 10.10.10) అనేక మార్లు ప్రయోగింపబడెను. అది వర్షము లేదా వీర్యమును కురుయుటను సూచిస్తుంది. ఒక బలిష్టమైన మగ జంతువు అనగా ఎద్దు లేదా గుర్రమును సూచిస్తుంది.

3. The end of their asceticism; that is, they died childless and unsuccessful.

3. వారి యొక్క ఆధ్యాత్మికత పరిసమాప్తమగుట. అనగా సంతానము లేనివారై, పరాజితులగుట.

4. He argues that each of them should go his own way, as various strategies are needed to win the race for happiness and immortality, but he implies that he will ultimately accede to her importunities. By ‘striving together’ they will engage in the agonistic Vedic sacrifice, like two rival priests.

4. అతడు సంతోషము మరియు అమరత్వము నాశించి మనుష్యులు తమదైన శైలిలో ప్రవర్తిస్తారని భావించినా, ఆమె కొరకై తాను రాజీపడవలెనని నిర్ణయించెను. వారిరువురు యజ్ఞంలో పోటీ పడుతున్న పురోహితుల వలె కలిసి శ్రమిస్తారని సూచింపబడినది.

5. He holds back his seed. If this verse is placed in Agastya’s mouth, it would mean: ‘The desire of my swelling teed [phallus], which is held back, overwhelms me …’

5. అతడు తన వీర్యాన్ని స్థంబింప చేస్తాడని సూచింపబడినది

6. He pants either with desire (before) or exhaustion (after); the verb merely indicates heavy breathing. This verse may follow an episode of mimed sexual intercourse.

6. ఇక్కడి పద ప్రయోగము దీర్ఘ శ్వాస క్రియను సూచిస్తుంది. అతడు మొదట కామ వాంఛతో, అది తీరిన తరువాత అలసి పోయినట్లు సూచిస్తుంది.

7. A metaphor rare in the Rig Veda but widespread elsewhere, and obvious.

7. ఈ ఉపమానము ఋగ్ వేదములో అతి తక్కువగా, మిగతా చోట్ల అనేక మార్లు వాడబడినది.

Reflection Symmetry of Mainstream Science and Mainstream Media

Dwelling more on symmetry and Arthanaareeswara, a scientific point of view is available with several references https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3705693/ . While this is Lord Siva's tattva, Bhagavata provides many instances of Lord Visnu taking the feminine forms like Mohini that is more of a ploy than a tattva. That means, Lord Siva is not just making appearances to save mankind or making temporary truce between devas and asuras. He is an embodiment of the human condition.

As said many times, "Lord Siva leaves no child behind including those wrestling with bisexuality, hermaphroditism, homosexuality, gender identity disorder, gonadal dysgenesis, chromosomal defects, etc." that are often referred to as LGBTQ factors that are physiological. Freud and Jung agreed that there is neither perfect masculinity nor complete femininity based on psychological studies. That means, every jiva falls into the gray areas between the two gender extremes.

The creation after going through many maha yugas is trying to achieve perfection, like a pure diamond sans inclusions, which is akin to a computer that never fails. Sometimes the manufacturing defects are passed on to the consumer. The Law of Karma may have something to do with this.

In the symmetry debate, mainstream science only accepts certain combinations of matter or energy that lead up to satisfying conservation laws that are thought to be of paramount importance ("all laws of nature originate in symmetries"). Mathematicians are more precise by looking for invariance (changelessness) under transformations such as translation (moving from A to B), reflection (like in a mirror), rotation (like earth around its axis) and scaling (changes in multiple dimensions). And the development of supersymmetry to understand the plethora of subatomic particles MSS discovers, rather conjures up everyday. Whereas, MSS has turned from us vs. dogma to us vs. universe where contrarian views and thought experiments have lesser importance than personalities.

So that leads to my inference that Mainstream Science and Mainstream Media enjoy reflection symmetry. If I said they are a happy couple, I'd be breaking the symmetry. So I leave it upto them to figure out.

However, as hindus built temples such as Arthanareeswarar Temple in Tiruchengode, and made carvings of arthanaareeswara, is it like having a third pole? I think it is like advaita where all we see is oneness or unity. When there is no second, where is the question of the third?

I can imagine some non-savaites thinking that siva-sakti unity is a blight and a blemish. To support my claim the Wiki page (Ardhanarishvara - Wikipedia) draws parallels to Yama-Yami of Rig-Veda which in my view is incorrect. Here is from Rig Veda translated by Dr.Wendy Doniger

10.10 Yama and Yami

Yama, the first son of the sun, is regarded in later mythology as the first mortal man and king of the dead, while Manu, the sun’s other son, is regarded as the ancestor of the human race. In Avestan mythology, the primeval incest of the twins, Yama and Yami, remains an important episode in the procreation of the human race; in India, Yama rejects the erotic solicitations of his sister in the Rig Veda and is never again exposed to them, for later Indian mythology is significantly silent about the affair. The hymn is not, however, a commentary on a social charter (‘Thou shalt not commit incest’), but rather a speculation – ultimately negative – on a possible cosmogony, the male and female twins functioning as a variant of the androgyne.

The hymn begins, as is usual with those of the ‘conversation’ genre, in medias fires. Yami invokes gods of procreation and argues that the human race must be preserved; Yama counters by invoking moral gods and their laws. Unlike the similar conversation between Agastya and Lopamudra (1.179), this hymn ends with the rejection of the woman, who finally loses her temper completely.

1 [Yami :] ‘Would that I might draw my friend into intimate friendship, now that he has gone far across the ocean.{1} A man of foresight should receive a grandson from the father, thinking of what lies ahead on earth.’

2 [Yama:] ‘Your friend does not desire this friendship, in which a woman of his kind would behave like a stranger.{2} The heroes, {3} the sons of the great spirit,{4} supporters of the sky, see far and wide.’

3 [Yami:] ‘The immortals desire this, that off spring should be left by the one mortal. Let your mind unite with my mind;{5} as a husband,{6} enter the body of your wife.’

4 [Yama :] ‘ Shall we do now what we have not done before? Shall we who spoke truth out loud now whisper false- hood?{7} The divine youth in the waters{8} and the woman of the waters – such is our source, our highest birth.’{9}

5 [Yami:] ‘The god Tvastr,{10} the creator and impeller, shaper of all forms, made us man and wife even when we were still in the womb. No one disobeys his commands; earth and sky are our witnesses for this.’{11}

6 [Yama:] ‘Who was witness of that first day? Who has seen it? Who can proclaim it here? The law of Mitra and Varuna is high. Yet what will you say to men, wanton woman, to seduce them?’

7 [Yami:] ‘Desire for Yama has come upon me, Yami, the desire to lie with him upon the same bed. Let me open my body to him as a wife to her husband. Let us roll about together like the two wheels of a chariot.’

8 [Yama:] ‘These spies of the gods, who wander about here below, do not stand still, nor do they bunk their eyes. Wanton woman, go away fast with another man, not with me. Roll about with him like the two wheels of a chariot.’

9 [Yami:] ‘ She would do what he wished in the nights and in the days; she would deceive the eye of the sun for the instant of the blink of an eye. We twins are related in the same way as sky and earth. Let Yami behave toward Yama as if she were not his sister.’

10 [Yama:] ‘Later ages will come, indeed, when blood relatives will act as if they were not related. Make a pillow of your arm for some bull of a man.{12} Seek another husband, lovely lady, not me.’

11 [Yami:] ‘What good is a brother, when there is no protector?{13} What good is a sister, when destruction breaks out?{14} Overcome with desire, I whisper this again and again:mingle your body with my body.’

12 [Yama:] ‘Never will I mingle my body with your body. They call a man who unites with his sister a sinner. Arrange your lustful pleasures with some other man, not with me, lovely lady. Your brother does not want this.’

13 [Yami:] ‘Dammit, Yama, how feeble you are. I have not been able to find any mind or heart in you. Some other woman will surely embrace you like a girth embracing a harnessed stallion or a creeper embracing a tree.’

14 [Yama:] ‘You too, Yami, will surely embrace another man, and he will embrace you, as a creeper embraces a tree. Seek his mind, and let him seek yours. Join with him in proper harmony.’

Notes

1. The ocean may be the metaphorical ocean separating mortals (like Yama) from immortals (as Yami may be), in which case ‘he’ is Yama. But ‘he’ may be the avenging god whom Yama fears (vv. 2, 6, and 8), or the sun in the water (v. 4), in which case Yami is assuring her brother that he need not fear, as the spy is absent across the ocean.

2. This may mean that Yama does not wish the woman of his kind (his sister) to act like a stranger (like a woman with whom sexual contact is allowed); in caste terms, he avoids marriage within the subgroup (gotra). Less likely, but possible, is the interpretation that Yama fears that a woman not like him (an immortal) will behave like one of his kind (a mortal woman, one who may have sexual contact with him). In caste terms, he avoids marriage outside the group (varna).

3. The gods, or perhaps just the Adityas, the particular servants of Varuna.

4. Varuna, most likely, as guardian of the moral law; or Rudra, punisher of incest (in which case the ‘heroes’ would be the Maruts).

5. The word (manas) can designate mind or heart, the seat of both rational and emotional functions. But since it is later contrasted with a word for ‘heart’ (v. 13), it is here probably limited to the first connotation.

6. Here Yami implies that Yama actually is her husband, a thought which she makes explicit in v. 5; later, however (v. 7), she merely asks him to behave as if he were her husband, as her resolve weakens.

7. The word, anrta, means not merely to speak a lie but to say something that violates the moral order, to say something that may be true but should not be.

8. Probably the sun, born of the waters, but perhaps just any Gandharva.

9. Yama argues both that people born of such lofty parents should not break the moral law, and also that he and Yami, having the same parents, cannot procreate together.

10. The god of procreation, and the artisan of the gods, fashioner of the embryo in the womb. Cf. 10.184.1, 4.18.3.

11. Here and in verse 9, Yami argues that sky and earth are as closely related as she and Yama are, that their procreation was not only permitted but even archetypal.

12. ‘Bull’ is Vedic slang for a virile man, like ‘stud’ in American; cf. 1.179.1 and 1.179.4.

13. She argues that a brother should protect his sister, even if this involves incest, to keep her from going unsatisfied and un fertilized. Ironically, it is the brother who should find a husband for his sister and avenge her if she is rejected.

14. Destruction (nirrti) both in the wider sense of the destruction of the human race (as she argues in verse 1) or in the more particular sense of the destruction that comes upon a man who dies son- less.

Regards

Equivalence of Mainstream Science and Mainstream Media

I am a fan of "Telugu Alchemist" who posts videos on youtube about "mainstream science" which give me an opportunity to cogitate over vedic science. In a recent video he talked about the Law of Conservation of Energy where he translated "energy" to "sakti", perhaps a term used in academic curriculum. I will come to the Law a little later, but first I would like to clarify on "sakti" which primarily means female principle in hinduism but has other derived meanings like the connection between mind, god, etc. with matter.

It is believed that yogis possessed yoga sakti using which they could bend solid objects or travel to the place of their choice instantaneously. Whether one believes in such metamagical themes, one has to be generally receptive to the female principle and the interaction between mind and matter to appreciate the wisdom of the rishis.

For instance, what is the sakti that makes firewood useful for cooking? A rishi would say firewood has "agni tattva" whereby prayer or its equivalent such as rubbing flint stones initiates the combustion process that manifests as light and heat. Why is rubbing flint stones the same as prayer? Simply, the "agni" in flint stone was discovered by someone using their mind! If you say, the search engine told you

"The discovery of fire was attributed to Homo erectus, during the Early Stone Age. They likely first discovered fire through natural events such as lightning strikes or volcanic eruptions and learned to control it for warmth and cooking."

Therefore, there was no serendipity and a "discovery" was made, which is ipso facto mind!

To understand the female principle of sakti requires abstract thinking. In Sankhya, mentioned in Bhagavad Gita, Prakruti, which is sakti, comes in contact with Purusha, which is consciousness or spirit, to energize the Jiva. In other words, sakti is necessary for the creation and sustenance of jiva. Though Prakruti is commonly referred to as nature or matter, ultimately it is a manifested female principle.

Did our rishis miss the "energy" concept altogether? The mention of agni in hundreds of veda mantras and the various references such as sapta jihva, aapaye, indhanaya, jaataveda, vanaspataye, etc. attributed to agni, apply to energy as well. When you have a boundless entity manifesting in various forms, including terrestrial and celestial objects, what would one have to say about its conservation? The saanti mantra puts it succinctly "Aum! That is infinite, and this (universe) is infinite.The infinite proceeds from the infinite. (Then) taking the infinitude of the infinite (universe), It remains as the infinite alone."

But what about the law? Alchemist uses time and space symmetries of physics to explain the law. He gives an example of a compressed spring that has the same energy whether it is transported in space or measured at various times. However, tell that to people making perpetual motion machines, liquid water fuel, and replacing silicon chips with biological brains.

One thing overlooked is energy is not a vector and inert. It can't make objects move which can only be done by a vector like force, for instance, but gets consumed in motion. Simply put, unless energy is released by either a vector or a process such as combustion, it remains latent and unmanifested.

In the terrestrial frame of reference, for example, when we consider a coal fired steam engine, the energy released by burning coal, converts water to steam that moves its wheels. Suppose someone tells you to put miniature wind turbines along the railway tracks, and recover some of the energy released by the coal whenever a train passes causing wind turbulence, one would say that is ludicrous! In other words, the law was established for the convenience of fitting mathematical formulations, rather than real life.

Finally, I would like to comment on those who stick to time and space symmetries as the golden standard and there is no symmetry in "Artha-naareeswara" for why would a half-male and a half-female together give rise to a symmetric form? I think the rishis are telling us "don't be fooled by the outer appearance" and the form that seems asymmetric and self-contradictory is indeed Brahman who was described by Adi Sankara in various ways in Nirvana Shatakam that begins as:

"Mano-Buddhi-Ahankaara, Chittaani Naaham Na Cha Shrotra-Jihveh, Na Cha Ghraan-na-Netre Na Cha Vyoma Bhoomir, Na Tejo Na Vaayuh Chid-Aananda-Roopah, Shivoham Shivoham"

"I am not the Mind nor Intelligence the Ego, or the faculty of recollections. I am not the faculties of Hearing, nor that of Tasting, the faculties of Smelling or Seeing. I am not the Sky, nor the Earth, Neither the Fire nor the Air"

Regards

Cynosure of our eyes

For millennia the cynosure of our eyes is the Sun whom we worshiped and considered as the light of the universe. However, heliocentrism is relatively new in the world steeped in religious dogma. Only in the 17th century Copernicus convinced everyone that earth is a planet of the Sun. If that is so, what else are we wrong about?

In the ageing, yet crisp, voice of Sir David Attenborough (1926-), we learn that the James Webb telescope orbiting the earth proved that astronomers who based their calculations on big-bang were wrong! Webb found a galaxy that had formed 200-300 million years after big-bang, which was unexpected. It's not that they were completely wrong about big-bang, but only those conclusions based on the observations of the Hubble telescope need revision. In simple terms the space is expanding so fast that the light from some galaxies will never make it to us. So what does it imply?

The Vasishta Gita in Ramayana mentions two concepts in terms of frequency of appearance: consciousness and kaakataaliyam. The latter means as a crow alights a coconut tree, a coconut drops to the ground without a cause-effect relationship. For instance if we make an amateur remark that "as astronomers peer through Webb in a particular angle, the universe is too shy to reveal itself" it will be a kaakataaliyam. Coming to consciousness we can approximate it to the visible universe or "bubble" as David Attenborough says.

The astronomers say we are at the peak of universal consciousness with so many observable parameters made possible by technological advancements. That means, one day in the future our consciousness will shrink so much that even Sage Vyasa will be naught. People in the 22nd century will have to launch a search to find out just what the group of letters v-y-a-s-a, spelled in whatever ways, mean because their consciousness would be shrunk a little bit.

Linguists for centuries had a solution for that. They made a dictionary entry expecting people to refer to it or create a stotra for daily recitation as in the case of hindus. The Oxford English Dictionary has just 21,730 pages in 20 volumes! While it is commendable that they keep adding new words, that won't do. Because in 2025, the Oxford English Dictionary has added nearly 600 new words, including terms like "alamak," "bachata," and "bed-hopper," reflecting cultural and linguistic trends. Even search engines couldn't catch up because like light from the stars is always from the past, there is a lag between updates to a dictionary and the updates by the search engine.

If astronomers were correct, from now on our consciousness will keep shrinking which is in agreement with vedas. As many know vedas had 1132 branches barely 1000 years ago based on Adi Sankara's writings and now there are only 7. So what happened to the wisdom in the 1125 branches? In simple terms it went past our visible universe, even the most powerful telescopes would be of no help.

Coming back to heliocentric theory, is there a single source of light, let's call him Aditya, who lights all of the visible universe including our Sun? Are the non-visible universes stacked like a deck of cards or the layers of earth which can be accessed by simply "digging" or "tunnelling"? Are there several Adityas among the invisible universes? Given that our Sun is 4.6 billion years old with a 10 billion year life-span, what will be the life-span of an Aditya?

A more pertinent question is who lights up all the Adityas? The vedas say it is Brahman. Because we are still conscious of vedas, we are able to answer. How about the future generations? Already those of us who didn't have the fortune to visit the Sun Temple at Konark or Arasavilli in Andhra Pradesh, think there is no such thing as a precise sundial. A century from now, the pilgrimage sites will quietly slip out of consciousness just as the galaxies are drifting away from our visible universe.

David Attenborough draws a nihilistic conclusion that as the visible universe shrinks there will be a denouement, because he, like many of us, thinks the big-bang is the beginning of reckoning of time. The skeptics can subscribe to it. But those merging their consciousness with that of our rishis who said the creation is "anaadi" wouldn't have any trouble.

As the year is coming to an end, given that the cynosure of 2025 is Maha Kumbh Mela, what will be the cynosure in 2026? Let's hope Isro will launch a telescope that will find the krishnabhila that leads us to the invisible universes, just as Bhagavata Skandha 10 says:

"Sri Krishna's chariot crossed seven mountains, seven oceans, seven islands and entered a pitch black region. The horses were unable to see anything. Then Sri Krishna released his Sudarshana disc to light the path. They reached a city studded with diamonds called Mahakala. There they saw Adisesha with thousand gem studded hoods. On the hoods was seated the paramatma. Sri Krishna and Arjuna saluted the paramatma."

Regards

Swecha Bharat

For many hindus Panchatantra is no stranger. But how many know many of the surviving historical manuscripts of Panchatantra are found in Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, Iran; Oxford library, Indian Office Library, London (UK); Tibet and Japan, etc.? Its author Vishnu Sarma (200 BCE-300 CE) was blessed with most translations of any Bharatiya vignaan among the Indo-European and Indo-Persian language families.

As many know, "pancha" in Sanskrit means five and "tantra" is an "upaya" or a stratagem. The five being Mitra-bheda (The Loss of Friends), Mitra-lābha (The Acquisition of Friends), Kākolūkīyam (The Crows and the Owls), Labdhapraṇāśam (The Loss of Gains), Aparīkṣitakārakaṃ (The Rash Deeds).

Preceding Panchatantra was Chanakya's (350 BCE) 5 upayas: sama (persuasion), dana (offering), danda (punishment), bheda (isolation) in the art of governance that were largely superseded by the later Panchatantra because of the harshness involved in them. But you still find them among the fraternity of nations. For instance Bharat is in the last two legs vis-a-vis neighbors.

Also, there is a difference between Vishnu Sarma's mitra-bheda that means doing the opposite of Dale Carnegie's advice in his book "How to Win Friends And Influence People", and Chanakya's bheda which means isolation such as the "sanctions regime".

After independence, Bharat used Panchsheel: respect for territorial integrity and sovereignty, non-aggression, non-interference, equality and mutual benefit, and peaceful co-existence that were called "non-alignment", later "non-aligned movement" by including more nations. In reality, Bharat favored the former USSR over the USA, the two nations engaged in cold-war.

The "Global South", "BRICS", etc. are later refinements to primarily counter the US Dollar's supremacy. So when the talk of Tariffs was going on, Bharat fell back to Mitra-Labha and the EAM went around scouting for new markets and trading partners. The foreign jaunts of nouveau riche on Bharat's Air Force 1 are reminiscent of American tycoon Carnegie's diplomacy on his yacht to engage primarily China and Bharat. While China acceded to open up trade relations and prospered, Bharat lagged behind.

If there is a stark difference between these two neighbors, it is the lingua franca induced lack of orderliness. Bharat, while proud of its English, had subscribed to sloganeering under the guise of 5-year plans such as "Garibi Hathao" (remove poverty), "Beti Bachao" (save the girl child), etc. neglecting infrastructure and overall hygiene. While the former made leaps and bounds in the recent past despite fiascos like Indigo grounding its planes, the latter never sunk deep into the citizens as they were offered more slogans like "Swacha Bharat", "Vikshit Bharat", "Atma Nirbhar Bharat", etc. instead of investment in practical tools to raise the standards of living.

For instance, whenever the world leaders visited the capital, the likes of Madanpur Khadar and Kathputli Colony, that are collectively called slums, were kept out of sight with make-shift pardahs along the surface routes. At the same time humanitarians like Mother Teresa and Mira Nair were heckled for not providing bathroom tissue to the slum dwellers instead of seeking fame and prizes.

So how to fix? While trickle-down economics by handing over public institutions to the oligarchs might work in the short-term, like Russia the GoI will bog down in unending border skirmishes throwing more "Agni Veers" in harm's way, for which the largely unemployed youth, who are enamored with government jobs that are synonymous with corruption, are to be blamed . The self-employed shouldn't be subsisting on "Pakora Stalls" without knowing nutritional value and basic hygiene, both of which can be fixed, like in China or Singapore, with incentives and repercussions rather than saddling with a GST. In other words, use Chanakya's precepts for internal affairs rather than making speeches in the General Assembly or informal press conferences by the select coterie to show "Swecha Bharat" or an utopian land of freebies from the leaders.

Regards

Are you being served?

Skill can be defined as the ability to create and use tools to gain advantage over natural resources even though it was reduced to "ability to do something well" by the linguists ignoring that language itself is a tool granted by Vakdevi, with Agni as the adhisthana devata. While humans are blessed by the Goddesses like Gayatri Devi, Saraswati Devi for learning and communication, the animal kingdom is not far behind. A crow dropping pebbles into a jar of water, a fable taught in my kindergarten, causes the water level to rise for its use. In the modern times, Jane Goodall raised the awareness about Chimpanzees that have the ability to use sticks to ferret out ants and such from the ground. A South American Parakeet was shown to remember 1700 words through training and interaction. A Golden Retriever has the skill to retrieve something like a frisbee and a Beaver can build dams across waterways.

Our Puranas mention several weapons which are tools to defend oneself made from other tools by the smithies. A skilful archer, such as Arjuna or Ekalavya, was pivotal for winning in a war. Balarama had a plough as the weapon of choice which has been repurposed from an agricultural tool. Parasurama wielded an axe or parasu in front of Lord Rama after he dismantled the Shiv Dhanus in Sita Devi svayamvara.

Even going back, the Indus Civilization was shown to be very advanced in making and using tools. The tool makers or craftsmen made ploughs, sickles, chakras, maces, spears, bows, arrows and what not. And there were early metallurgists who knew how to make iron in blast furnaces and annealing them for strength and longevity. It is believed that the iron pillars built during Chandra Gupta Maurya era didn't rust to this day!

In recent times, the jewelers of Bharat were recognized for their skill in cutting, polishing and setting stones in gold and silver ornaments around the world elevating them to artisans. Lest we forget the weavers of silk saris, such as Kanchipuram, who are considered the ultimate artists.

Where am I going with this? In the USA, there are broadly two types of schools: colleges that impart skills and universities that train scholars for speciality occupations. Of much interest are the former that apply to plumbers, electricians, mechanics, etc. The so called Polytechnics and ITIs in Bharat pretty much do the same but with different degrees of sophistication. The foremost skilful tool makers and operators are the Chinese making China an industrial powerhouse and a vendor or supplier to the world. I think there is not much to say about Bharat other than upskilling, something I lamented earlier as lacking in the present environment that wants technology transfers and a production line ready for turning out widgets. For a country trying to right the wrongs committed by earlier generations there is no loss of pride.

For an American skilled worker to give up his place for an immigrant is a hard bargain. So companies want to shift entire manufacturing overseas when the goal is to make more profit. Once the automobile assembly lines were transplanted in Japan out of guilt. Later entire clean rooms used for making electronics were shipped from America's heartland to countries like China for profit. The locals quickly acquired the skills to operate the machinery and now they are at the cusp of making advanced machinery using tools they made while the Americans watch them in dismay. For instance, the electronic lithography machines that can make nano circuits were the forte of the Netherlands. Not necessarily in the coming years, if Chinese had their way.

Strangely enough a skilled scholar is a rare combination in the American landscape making the local scholars vulnerable for replacement by an immigrant for various reasons. This is where Bharat's reputation as a supplier of IT degree holders increased. There is a twist. When Cloud service providers replaced on-premise servers and their administrators, the "admins" moved on to other "jobs" like programming numerically controlled machines and operating server farms for making bitcoins and such. By the way, the influencers like Anton Kobyakov claiming the US wants to reset its debt by converting to crypto is not as simple as it sounds for the block-chain behind crypto envisaged by an anonymous Japanese tech worker was based on prime numbers that are critical for encrypted communication.

Anyhow, it is important that Bharatiya leaders shamelessly clamouring, nay begging, over American work-visas understand that a wholesome tech visa must include a fallback skill such as the aforementioned admins, something the present American system doesn't insist for whatever reasons. Back in the days when I studied on a scholarship, some students worked in cafeterias, libraries and computer labs on campus, none of which required a skill other than hand-eye coordination. Nor imparted new skills. These days the so-called OPT mills allow students to go off campus and pump gas or bag groceries, for instance, which are nothing but mind numbing tasks for a student aspiring for a tech visa. This is where they rub with the locals, such as teens and seniors, looking for "jobs" running into so-called students.

I don't think NASSCOM, the self-appointed guardian of Bharatiya IT, will ever understand the distinction between a tech worker and a skilled worker. They obfuscate and warn the Americans of ominous consequences if Bharatiya IT workers are not "sponsored" which the big tech companies buy into. Perhaps they all read Fridman's "World Is Flat" (2005; see wiki). They are purveyors of misinformation and experts at disinformation, thus maligning the credibility of all NRIs. The tech company captains, what with many of them having availed themselves of work visas early in their careers, are abettors with some foot dragging. Time to wake up and smell the coffee that just came off tariffs.

Regards